


A Change in Fate

by The_Urban_Author



Category: Randy Cunningham: 9th Grade Ninja
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Theresa centric
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-21
Updated: 2018-02-09
Packaged: 2019-03-16 01:14:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,156
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13625451
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Urban_Author/pseuds/The_Urban_Author
Summary: A slight change creates a ripple effect that changes everything.





	A Change in Fate

_Burning. All she could feel was burning. Her lungs burned, her eyes burned, every muscle in her body screamed in agony as the flames closed in on her. She fell to one knee, supporting herself on the hilt of her katana._

 

**_Theresa!_ **

 

_The shadow of her adversary cast her in a pool of darkness amidst the glow of the fire. She glared at her enemy, but soon lost her ire. The will to fight had left her, she knew she had lost. A cry of pain ripped from her throat- she didn’t think she even_ could _scream anymore- as she was forced backwards. The momentum exacerbated her already existing injuries, while the flames eagerly licked at her exposed skin where her armor had broken._

 

**_Theresa!!_ **

 

_She landed hard on her stomach, the villain stood over her, clearly taking joy in her pain. The warrior couldn’t bring  herself to care anymore. She had lost everything. If she died now at least she could die with honor, she had fought the good fight, she’d done everything she could to protect the people she had sworn her life to. She closed her eyes and accepted fate as she awaited the pain of the killing blow…_

 

**_Theresa get up! It’s Time for school!!_ **

 

Theresa Fowler sat bolt upright in her bed, beads of sweat ran down her face from the nightmare she had just endured. She groaned as she wiped the sweat from her forehead, trying to collect herself through her grogginess.

 

“Theresa, come on. I know that you’re not exactly a morning person but you’re going to be-” Theresa looked up to see her mother standing in the doorway. Her mother’s face held a bemused expression, “Theresa are you alright? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

 

Theresa gave her mother a curt nod, “Yeah, I’m okay mom. I think I had a weird dream,” she muttered as she groggily rubbed the sleep from her eyes. “I don’t remember.”

 

“Alright, well you better get a move on missy,” mom said, “ You overslept and if you don’t get out of here in the next ten minutes you’re going to be late.”

 

Theresa looked at her clock that read 7:50.

 

She had to be at school for freshman orientation at 8:20.

 

“Aahh!” The teen scrambled out of her bed, getting her legs tangled in the sheets and promptly landing face first on her carpet before she gathered herself up and skirted past her mom into the bathroom. The older woman just laughed at her daughter’s antics.

 

Theresa was in and out of the bathroom in minutes, somehow finding a way to brush her teeth and wash her face at the same time. She quickly dressed in a bright yellow tank-top, jean shorts, and her blue sneakers. Normally she would have worn her twirl team uniform to school, but she learned the hard way that long-sleeves and the brutal summer heat of Nevada don’t mix. Theresa quickly tied her hair into her signature half-ponytail and started to pack her bag, quickly going through her mental checklist.

 

_Books, check._

_Schedule, check._

_Ninja mask and Nomicon, check._

 

Theresa paused at that last item. Its presence in her life new and foreign. She hadn't yet had the opportunity to try on the mask or open the ancient tome, but if Theresa were to be frank, she's pretty nervous about doing either. 

 

“Sweetie! Time to go!” mom called from the kitchen. At her call Theresa shoved her worries to the back of her mind and got up to leave, the mask and book safely tucked away in her school bag. She quickly said goodbye to her mother and rushed outside to her bike, the summer heat of the desert town swallowed her whole upon her first step outside.

 

She strapped her helmet on and began to speed her way to school, she practically let herself freefall down a steep hill, letting gravity do the work for her. She spared a glance at her watch as she rolled down to see it read 8:05. When she reached the bottom she pushed herself to go faster, wanting to get there with time to spare, each house she passed by became a blurred rush of colors. Within a few minutes of rushed pedaling she made it to Norrisville high with ten minutes to spare before orientation started. She locked her bike up to the bike rack and started towards the building.

 

There were students milling about outside; Fellow freshmen reuniting with friends they hadn’t seen over the summer, sophomores who looked _way_ too cynical considering they had been the newbies less than a few months ago, and a group of juniors who wasted no time picking on the fresh meat and seemed to be lead by a large boy who for some reason spoke in the third person. Theresa made a mental note to avoid those boys as she focused on her current mission, finding Julien.

 

She walked into the main foyer and took out her phone:

 

**You: hey, where r u?**

**Batboy: in a tin tomb**

**You: what?**

**Batboy: a locker**

**You: school hasn’t even officially started yet and you already got stuffed in a locker!?**

**Batboy: nope. got in myself. none of them have locks yet. :D**

**Me: well get out of your tin tomb and come to the foyer. orientation starts in a few minutes.**

**Batboy: ok**

 

Theresa took a moment to look around the foyer. For a public school, it was rather extravagant with high ceilings, pristine white walls with blue crown moldings and gold accents, not to mention the fish mosaic on the floor with- what looked like- a valuable jewel for the eye.

 

_Must be because of all the remodeling McFist industries did._ She thought to herself. She was no stranger to the school’s infamous history of being destroyed and rebuilt several times a year, courtesy of the town’s local “gajillionaire/philanthropist,” Hannibal McFist. However she was also keenly aware of the fact that is was usually the ninja who destroyed it in the first place, she could only hope that she wouldn’t be the cause of any similar collateral damage.

 

“Excuse me! Care to describe how your first five minutes of being a freshman feels for the NHGTTWDPC: online edition?” A voice suddenly asked from behind Theresa, startling her out of her observations. She turned to see a short girl with blue hair holding a tape recorder in her face. She seemed familiar…

 

“Theresa Fowler?”

“... Debbie… Kang?!” Theresa said, putting a name to the familiar face.

 

Debbie broke out into a smile, “Oh my gosh, it really is you! I haven’t seen you in forever, how long has it been? Three years?” she asked.

 

Theresa smiled back at her old friend, “Almost, it’s been about two and a half, you changed middle schools in the middle of sixth grade.”

 

Theresa was overjoyed to see another friendly face, almost none of the people she had known in middle school had come to Norrisville High. It was understandable, with the school’s reputation for frequent attacks their parents probably didn’t want their kids in any danger. The kids that did come here were probably all die-hard ninja fans and didn’t care about the prospect of getting caught up in a ninja fight.

 

“Oh, uh… So what was that you were asking me?” Theresa asked, having not been fully paying attention to what Debbie had said before.

 

“I was asking how your first few minutes of being a freshman feels. It’s for the NHGTTWDPC: online edition. It’s the school newsletter, I joined the staff over summer and I intend to start working right away! That way if I keep up this rate, I’ll be Editor in Chief before the end of the first semester.” Debbie boasted.

 

Theresa couldn’t help but smile seeing that her old friend had never lost her determined and fast paced spirit over the years.

 

“So…” Debbie implored, holding the recorder up once again. Theresa blinked until she realized that Debbie still wanted an answer.

 

“Oh, well it feels exciting but I’m a bit nervous too. I guess you could say it’s like having happy butterflies in your stomach. It’s kinda hard to gauge how I feel after only a few minutes.” Debbie nodded and put her recorder down, apparently satisfied with Theresa’s answer.

 

“Thanks T,” she stopped as if considering something for a moment, “Hey do want to sit with me during orientation?” The purple haired girl winced, “Oh, I’m actually already sitting with a friend of mine, but you can sit with both of us if you want.” she finished with a smile.

 

“Really? Who’s your frie-”

 

“Theresa!” Julien shouted, waving to his friend from the entrance to gym where freshman orientation was taking place.

 

“Hi Julien!” Theresa waved back, smiling at her gothic friend.

 

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, sidebar.” Debbie said, pulling on Theresa’s arm to make her face the other direction, “You still hang out with Freaky Fielding?”

 

Theresa rolled her eyes at the unflattering nickname, “Yes,” she hissed, “and his name is Julien not ‘Freaky Fielding’, he’s a good guy Deb just give him a chance.” she gave a gentle smile to her old friend as she finished.

 

The shorter girl only offered a scoff, “Listen T, I’ve learned the hard way that the only good people are the people who are going to get you to the top, like… like… her!” Debbie pointed to a tall redheaded girl in a cream colored shirt and a brown skirt, “That’s Heidi Weinerman, host of _Gossip Report_ , the biggest daily show in the school, heck probably in Norrisville. She’s got the dirt on _everyone_ , she’s basically the most powerful girl in school and she’s only a junior.” Debbie finished with zealous grin.

 

Theresa tried to return a sincere smile but came off with a nervous one instead. “That’s nice Debbie but if you’ll excuse me, I think I’ve kept Julien waiting long enough, you sure you don’t want to sit with us?” She said, trying to remove the air of awkwardness from the moment. Debbie didn’t meet her eyes, instead choosing to fiddle with the _very interesting_ casing of her tape recorder.

 

“No that’s okay you go have fun with Fr- I mean Julien,” she replied, “in the meantime I’m going to plant the early seeds of my success.” Debbie smirked, waving as she rushed over to Heidi and instantly started a conversation, a look of smooth confidence on her face.

 

Theresa blew out a puff of air and strode to her goth friend.

 

“Who was that?” he asked.

 

“Old friend. You remember Debbie from grade school?”

 

He nodded. “The nosy one?” He giggled.

 

“She’s not _nosy_ , she’s an investigative reporter.” Theresa replied, making an exaggerated show of rolling her eyes.

 

The two found seats and pretended to listen to the overly enthusiastic principal while playing some puzzle game on Julien’s phone that involved feeding candy to an adorable monster.

 

Finally they were dismissed from orientation and allowed to try and find their way through the building. As they left Theresa overheard someone talking, the topic of discussion peaking her interest.

 

"What is this bull Cunningham? We've already been here for like an hour and a half and we've seen _zero_ sign of the ninja.  _Zero,"_ the red headed boy punctuated by holding his fingers in an O shape. His purple haired friend (Theresa mentally makes a note to seek him out later as a potential friend, hair dye being the ice breaker) just rolls his eyes, probably used to this kind of whining from his friend.

 

"Howard the ninja doesn't just show up just because. There's gotta be like, a monster attack or something. Have some patience," the boy- Cunningham? Must be his surname- replies.

 

Theresa turns her attention away as their discussion turns to comparing schedules. She supposed she should've expected to hear some freshman were eager to finally lay their eyes on the ninja up close. But that tall boy was right. She couldn't just put on the mask all willy nilly. There had to be a reason, after all, it was a sacred duty that she was entrusted with. Even so Theresa hoped that the time for her to actually  _put on_ the mask and see what it does was a long way off. Not that she was one for shirking duties, especially not sacred ones, but "learning on the job" didn't exactly seem like the best way to go about being the ninja.

 

So those eager freshman were just going to have to wait. Besides, it's literally the  _first day_. What was the likelyhood of anything that dramatic happening on the first day?

 

**_Crash_ **

 

The floor shook beneath Theresa and Julian's feet, the crash happening somewhere down a different hall but the reverberations must've shook the whole building.

 

For a moment there is silence.

 

_Then chaos._

 

_I just had to ask didn't I?_

**Author's Note:**

> Wow I'm surprised anyone even clicked on this considering that lackluster summary. I used to be a lot better at this I swear I'm just rusty. Any way, so this is kind of an experiment of sorts? I posted some of my really old, really kinda crappy work on here recently just because I wanted to move it off my old account on FFN meanwhile this has been sitting in my google docs for like, two years. The old works I posted have been surprisingly kinda well received? It's beyond me honestly. I get the feeling this fandom is kind of dead but I'm also a bit of a completionist so I decided to edit this and just post it anyway just so the fact that it's sitting unfinished in my google docs will stop bothering me. Depending on how well received this is I may continue it but for now I'm not sure. 
> 
> This is the only chapter I have written of this story (even though I still know exactly where I want to go with it) so if anyone wants more of this updates will be very slow but they'll happen.
> 
> in the mean time I guess check out my tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/the-city-kitty


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